![\"new-look-store\"](\"http:\/\/www.theinjurylawyers.co.uk\/injury-lawyers-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/new-look-store-300x200.jpg\" "\\"new-look-store\\"")
New Look, the high street fashion chain, have been fined £400,000 for fire safety breaches following a blaze at one of their branches in London.<\/p>\nNew Look, the high street fashion chain, have been fined £400,000 for fire safety breaches following a blaze at one of their branches in London.<\/p>\n
\u00a0According to the BBC, staff ignored smoke pouring out of a window at the shop, located on Oxford Street. The fire alarm sounded but was then switched off. Shop staff initially failed to react before panicking and evacuating customers from the shop. No-one was hurt in the accident; however judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC, sitting at Southwark Crown Court, stated that the fire could have been \u201ca disaster almost too awful to contemplate\u201d.<\/p>\n
The fire occurred in April 2007 and began in the shop\u2019s second floor storeroom. According to shopper Joanne Weaver, the fire alarm in the store went off intermittently but the initial absence of staff reaction did not \u201csuggest there was a problem\u201d. Ms Weaver and as many as 20 other shoppers were allowed to continue down to the basement floor before a member of staff announced that the shop was being evacuated.
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